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Each year, more than 20,000 families in the United States experience a stillbirth, the loss of a fetus at 20 weeks or more of gestation. Stillbirth is a traumatic event that takes a devastating, lifelong psychological toll on families. October marks Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, making this an opportune time to reflect on the work we must do to better understand the causes of—and ultimately prevent—these tragedies.

The National Institutes of Health is offering up to $2 million in cash prizes to accelerate development of diagnostic and monitoring technologies to improve fetal health outcomes in low-resource settings.

A bacterial species that causes chorioamnionitis—an infection of the placenta and fetal membranes that often leads to preterm birth—relies on a gene for metal tolerance to hijack immune cells, suggests a study in mice funded by the National Institutes of Health. The findings indicate that strategies to target the gene and its products could eliminate one of the most common causes of preterm birth.

This October, NICHD celebrates its 60th anniversary and holds the first meeting of a new task force examining stillbirth in the United States. NICHD Director Dr. Diana W. Bianchi looks forward to future progress toward the institute’s goals of promoting healthy pregnancies, raising healthy children, and ensuring healthy and optimal lives.

The Division of Intramural Research provides fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems through basic, clinical, and population-based research.

Small NIH study contributes to understanding of COVID-19 during pregnancy.

Read about NICHD’s research findings and activities from 2021.

It just got easier to participate in the PregSource®: Crowdsourcing to Understand Pregnancy research project. The free app allows participants to track their weight, sleep, mood, and other features of their pregnancy in just a few taps.

An antibody treatment in early pregnancy for women infected with cytomegalovirus does not appear to reduce the risk of infection or death among their newborns, an NIH-funded study suggests. The findings contradict several smaller studies on the treatment, known as hyperimmune globulin, that suggested the treatment was effective.

Drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco cigarettes throughout the first trimester of pregnancy is associated with nearly three times the risk of late stillbirth (at 28 or more weeks), compared to women who neither drink nor smoke during pregnancy or quit both before the end of the first trimester, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The National Institutes of Health will award up to $400,000 to individuals or groups who design an effective method for analyzing a large data set of first-time pregnancies and identifying risk factors for adverse outcomes, such as hypertensive disorders, diabetes and infection. A total of $50,000 will be awarded to each of seven winners designing the most effective means to analyze the data. An additional $10,000 will be awarded to the top five winners whose methods identify risk factors in disadvantaged populations.

NICHD Director Dr. Diana Bianchi is joined by NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health Director Dr. Janine Clayton in assessing the growing maternal health crisis in the United States and describing NIH’s efforts to address it.

Pregnant people need to be protected through research rather than from research, the authors contend.

As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, SARS-CoV-2 vaccines offer the potential to halt the spread of the virus. Yet, we know very little about the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines during pregnancy.

NIH-funded study suggests mother-to-infant transmission appears to be rare

Increased stress may interfere with adjustment to new motherhood, mother-infant bonding

Read about NICHD’s research findings and activities from 2020.

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have used a rapid DNA sequencing technique to identify gene variants in roughly a third of cases of nonimmune Hydrops fetalis (NIHF), a serious condition in which a fetus develops fluid buildup inside the abdominal cavity, lungs, or other parts of the body. The findings suggest that the DNA sequencing technique, known as exome sequencing, could be used to provide information unavailable with current genetic testing methods.

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have found that of 246 stillbirths, about 6% likely resulted in mutations to single genes. Of these, 9 cases resulted from gene variants implicated in stillbirth and 6 resulted from variants that had been suspected in stillbirths. The researchers concluded that the genome mapping method, called whole exome sequencing, could potentially provide information for counseling families of stillborn infants and to inform medical care of future pregnancies.

The study of approximately 16,000 pregnant women will continue 12 months after childbirth and compare maternal, fetal and newborn outcomes of participants infected with the virus to those of pregnant women who have not.